The Life Cycle of a Salmon

Salmon begin their life cycle with spawning, where eggs are fertilized in cool water by their father and then covered in gravel to protect them by their mom. They will then migrate away from where they were born. They will smolt which will allow them to transition to salt water fish. They will then live in the salt water areas. They will then migrate back up the river where they will reproduce. They stop eating when they choose to reproduce which causes their health to deteriorate. Then they will soon die. After their death, their carcass is not wasted, it will return back into the ecosystem as a resource of some other kind.
One thing I found very interesting about the lifecycle of the salmon is that they will return to where they were born in order to reproduce, then the mothers will remain by their nests until her children hatch but she will then stay in that same river where she will die.
We need to be concerned with salmon being labeled as threatened or endangered because salmon are such a critical species in our environment. Think about how much fish is consumed by the human species alone. Then ask yourself: What other animals do I know that eat fish? Not only do salmon provide a food source for many species, they are important to the health of their habitat, helping the overall state of the water they life in, along with balancing the food chain. All of these factors should be enough for anyone to think that this species is worth working for.